Word selecting device

ABSTRACT

A baby naming device is disclosed which comprises a plurality of moveable plates mounted together, with the moveable plates having a plurality of indicia designating male names on one side and indicia designating female names on the other side. The frame may contain viewing windows through which the name indicia may be viewed in combination.

O United States Patent [151 3,694,944

Von Behren 1 Oct. 3, 1972 [$41 WORD SELECTING DEVICE 1,224,742 5/1917 Hillyer ...................35/ H X 2,938,282 5/1960 Spielman ..35/35 H 2,425,197 8/1947 Montague ..35/1 [72] Inventor: Norvell E. Von Behren, 1651 Ardmom Ave Glendale Heights, [IL 3,553,867 1/1971 Von Behren ..40/70 R 60137 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1221 Filed: p 1970 1,141,835 3/1957 France ..35/35 F [2 pp No.2 71 7 5 641,228 R Related US. Application Data Primary Examiner-Wm. H. Grieb [63] Continuation-in-part of Ser. No. 718,882, April 14, 1968, Pat. No. 3,553,867.

US. Cl. ..40/70 R Int. Cl ..G09f 11/04 FieldofSeal'ch ..35/1,8R,31A,31E,35F, 35/35 G, 35 H, 74, 75, 76', /62, 64, 65,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1929 Marshall et a1. ..40/70 R 5o I 48 PINK I lNDlClA OTHERSIDE' ABSTRACT A baby naming device is disclosed which comprises a plurality of moveable plates mounted together, with the moveable plates having a plurality of indicia designating male names on one side and indicia designating female names on the other side. The frame may contain viewing windows through which the name indicia may be viewed in combination.

4 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures WORD SELECTING DEVICE AND METHOD CROSS REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS Ser. No. 718,882, now US. Pat. No. 3,553,867 issued Jan. l2, l97l and entitled Word Selecting Device and Method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 7l8,882, now US. Pat. No. 3,553,867 Issued Jan. 12, 1971. 11m invention relates to a baby naming device generally and more partieularly to a new and novel device where a large plurality of first and second baby name combinations may be viewed by the user of the device.

The problem of naming children has always been a perplexing one wherein the prospective parents are faced with the frustrating problem of finding a combination of first and second names, for their future child, that sound pleasant and also look correct. The problem compounds itself after the first child is born and again afier many successive children are born, since the new parents always seem to run out of acceptable name combinations to use.

One type of prior art device designed to aid the parents in this difficult task took the form of various name books having a plurality of male and female names all listed in alphabetical order in a tabular form. Such books provided same aid to the prospective parents in that they illustrated at a glance, many individual names available; however, it was not possible with the use of such books to visualize all of the combinations of available names, without spending lengthy periods of time in the search for an acceptable name combination. In using such books the parents would pick a first name that appealed to them after reading the entire list of names. After finally choosing a first name, the parents would then go over the names again to try to find a pleasing second name and, as often happened, when they finally selected a second name it never seemed to fit with the pre-selected first name. This process was repeated for boys names as well as girls names.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention obviates this problem by providing a baby naming device of the types shown and having a plurality of moveable plates mounted together with the plates having a plurality of indicia designating male names on one side and indicia designating female names on the other side. The frame may contain viewing windows through which the name indicia may be viewed in combination.

Accordingly it is an object of the invention to provide a new and novel baby naming device wherein a large plurality of baby names may be selected and viewed by using the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a new and novel baby naming device that requires no instructions for operating the device whereby upon viewing the device, having blue indicia on one side and pink indicia on the other side, the user is immediately informed of the identity of the respective sides and the use of the device.

Still another object is to provide a new and novel method for naming a baby that allows a name combination to be selected quickly and easily form a large number of possible name combinations.

These and other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the drawings taken in conjunction with the description of the preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is an elevational view showing the baby naming device of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary elevational view of the name plates of the device showing the reverse side of the name plates;

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an elevational view of a modification of the baby naming device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary elevational view of the name plates of the modification showing the reverse side of the name plates;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 4.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring more particularly to the drawings there is shown in FIGS 1 and 2, the device embodying one preferred form of the invention and comprises the baby naming device, shown generally as the number 10, comprising a plurality of name plates l2, l4 rotatably mounted to each other by means of an eyelet l6 and to a third name plate 18 similar in size to the name plate 12.

The outer name plates 12 and 18 contain indicia 20 and 22 designating baby names printed around the circumference of the name plates 12 and 18 in the manner shown in FIGS 1 and 2. The indicia 20 comprises boys names while the indicia 22 may comprise girls names. The name plate 12 also may contain indicia 24 designating the color blue, while the name plate 18 may contain indicia 26 designating the color pink.

Contained on both sides of the circumference of the central name plate 14 are a plurality of indicia 28 and 30 designating respectively boys and girls names as shown in FIGS 1 and 2. Rotatably attached to the name plates l2, l4 and 18 by means of the central eyelet 16 is a means for viewing the baby names in combination comprising a frame 32 having a plurality of openings 34 through which the baby names may be viewed. The outer edges 36 of the frame 32 may also be used as a marker to aid in viewing the baby names in place of the openings 34 For example, if the frame 32 were constructed without any openings 34 then the outer edge 36 could be used as a straight edge to line up the various means contained on the name plates 12 and 14 while screening out a portion of the names in close proximity thereby making it easier for the user of the device to quickly pick a combination of names. The frame 32 may also be constructed as two separate frames instead of the U-shaped frame shown in FIG. 3 with one frame on each side of the device.

Referring now to FIG. 3 there is shown a cross-sectional view of the device taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

l. The position of the name indicia 20, 22, 28 and 30 is clearly shown by the heavy lines on the respective name plates. The position of the openings 34 on the frame 32 is similarly shown.

The baby name indicia 20, 22, 28 and 30 may be placed on the name plates in alphabetical order, circumferentially around the plates or they may be placed thereon in a random, non-alphabetical order as shown in the FIGS. 1 and 2.

In operation, the user of the baby naming device simply rotates the outer name plate 12 and the inner name plate 14 in any desired direction to allow the plurality of baby name combinations to appear side by side. If the frame 32 is needed as an aid to viewing the name, it may also be rotated into position to screen out other names in the near vicinity of the frame.

If the user has a pre-selected first or second name and wishes to find an appropriate first or second name to go with the pre-selected name, he simply aligns the preselected name in the opening 34 by rotating the name plate 12 or 14 and then rotates the other name plate until he finds a pleasing combination of names. After the user has selected a desired boys name he simply turns the device over using the opposite side to select a combination of girls names or more boys names if the device is made with the names of one sex on both sides.

The total number of name combinations that are available to the user of this device is dependent upon the total number of names contained on the name plates 12, I4 and 18. The name plates 12, 14 and 18 may have the same names and number of names printed thereon or they may have different names or number of names contained thereon. The total number of combinations of boys names available will be the total number of boys names indicia 20 contained on the name plate 12 times the total number of boys names indicia 28 contained on one side of the name plate 14.

For example, if the name plate 12 contains I32 boys names and one side of the name plate 14 contains an equal number then the total number of name combinations available will be I32 X l32 or I7, 424 name combinations for boys. Assuming the number of girls name indicia 30 and 22 were the same then there would be available on the other side of the device another 17,424 combinations of girls names. From this it can be seen that a total of 34,848 combinations of male and female or all male or all female names are available to the user.

The color indicia 24 and 26 are applied to the name plates 12 and 18 and function to immediately tell the user of the device that the blue side contains the boys names and the pink side contains the girls names without requiring the user to resort to other indicia or printed instructions.

The color indicia also functions to tell a prospective purchaser of the device that it is a baby item which aids in selling the device. When the device is constructed with all boys names or all girls names only the appropriate color indicia for that sex would be prominently displayed on the device for the purposes given.

If the outer name plates 12 and 18 are identical in size, the color indicia 24 and 28 may be identical in design or artwork with only the colors being different.

As a result, in the manufacture of the naming device. the same printing plate may be used for both outer name plates 12 and 18 with the only changes required being a changed in color of printing ink. For example, the name plates 12 and 18 may be run through the printing press once to imprint the name indicia 20 and 22 and then run through the press again to imprint the desired color indicia 24 or 26. Since the name plates 12 and 18 may be identical in size then only one cutting die is necessary for these name plates. In this manner production costs of the device are greatly reduced, thereby lowering the total cost of the baby naming device.

bocated under the openings 34 is a line indicia 38 wherein the users of the device may write their last name and view a plurality of full names for their future child.

Referring now to FIGS 4-6 there is shown a modification of the basic invention wherein the baby namer is formed of two outer name plates 40 and 42 and a cen tral name plate 44. The outer name plate 40 contains indicia 46 designating boys names formed in a circular manner around the outer portion of the name plate as well as a plurality of viewing windows 48 in juxtaposition with the indicia 46. The central name plate 44 also contains indicia 50 designating boys names, said indicia being positioned around the periphery of the name plate 44 in such a manner that the indicia 50 will be viewable in the viewing windows 48 whenever the name plates 40, 42 and 44 are pivotably connected by the eyelet 16.

The reverse side of the device is shown in FIG. 5 and may contain on this name plate 42 indicia 52 designating girls names and may contain on the name plate 44 indicia 54 designating girls names. The name plate 42 contains indicia 26 designating the color pink while the name plate 40 contains indicia 24 designating the color blue for the purpose beforementioned when describing the embodiment in FIGS. 1-3.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that new and novel means have been provided for accomplishing all the objects and advantages of the invention. Nevertheless, it is apparent that many changes in the details of construction, arrangement of parts or steps in the method may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the accompanying claims and the invention is not to be limited to the exact matters shown and described as only the preferred embodiment has been given by way of illustration only.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A baby naming device comprising:

a. a plurality of outer name plates having formed around the outer edges thereof viewing means, said outer name plates also having formed thereon baby name indicia contained radially inwardly and in juxtaposition in said viewing means;

. a central name plate positioned between said outer name plates, said central name plate being constructed of a larger diameter than said outer name plate;

c. means for rotatably mounting said outer name plates and said central name plate to each other so that each name plate may be independently rotated; and

color blue and the other of said outer name plates contains indicia designating the color pink.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein both of said outer name plates contain indicia designating the color blue.

4. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein both of said outer name plates contain indicia designating the color pink.

II I i I i 

1. A baby naming device comprising: a. a plurality of outer name plates having formed around the outer edges thereof viewing means, said outer name plates also having formed thereon baby name indicia contained radially inwardly and in juxtaposition in said viewing means; b. a central name plate positioned between said outer name plates, said central name plate being constructed of a larger diameter than said outer name plate; c. means for rotatably mounting said outer name plates and said central name plate to each other so that each name plate may be independently rotated; and d. indicia, designating baby names contained around the outer edges of both sides of said central name plate, and being positioned in such a manner that the baby names may be viewed through said viewing means when said name plates are rotated independently thereby allowing the user of the device to view a combination of two baby names.
 2. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein one of said outer name plates contains indicia designating the color blue and the other of said outer name plates contains indicia designating the color pink.
 3. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein both of said outer name plates contain indicia designating the color blue.
 4. The device as defined in claim 1 wherein both of said outer name plates contain indicia designating the color pink. 